Technology For All --- We empower communities!

The mission of Technology For All is to empower low-income and under-resourced communities through the tools of technology. This blog is focused on the issues that impact the work of community technology centers and practitioners in and around Houston, Texas. Created by Will Reed, Technology For All, Houston, Texas. For more information call 713.454.6400.

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

TFA Information for potential donors

Technology For All recently completed the process of uploading all its financial and other information to DonorEdge, an online resource for donors created by the Greater Houston Community Foundation.

DonorEdge is an online resource designed to provide an unmatched level of information about Houston-area nonprofits. Donors have told us that they need more information in order to make informed charitable giving decisions. DonorEdge will provide this information in a format that is readily available and consistently presented.

DonorEdge Online is a powerful online resource to inform, empower and enrich charitable giving in a specific region, benefiting donors, nonprofits and the community at large. This new online tool supports the DonorEdge process, a combination of local hands-on assessments, technology, education, and targeted technical assistance. It captures critical information relating to the organizational and programmatic performance of nonprofits and makes it easily available to donors.

Today’s donors demand detailed and insightful information about local nonprofits to help them make strategic charitable investments and create positive change. Developed by the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation in response to donor needs, DonorEdge provides access to an unmatched wealth of knowledge about local nonprofits, including detailed financial, operational and programmatic measurements. Information is collected through a hands-on interview and profile process by trained Community Foundation professionals and is updated at least once a year.

When implemented on a large-scale basis, this program has the potential to drive impact well beyond the initial organizations and communities included in its database, through the creation of a national center of information on the performance of nonprofits. Such an asset could help an expanded number of philanthropists make informed grant decisions and influence the performance of nonprofit organizations, by making it possible to offer targeted technical assistance based on the nonprofit’s needs and educational opportunities.

The DonorEdge process has three core components:

Profiling nonprofits – Using performance measures and comparable information on hundreds of organizations in a local community, to help philanthropy understand the current capacity needs of nonprofit organizations;Analyzing nonprofit profiles – Employing 75 organizational indicators to build efficiencies and to identify promising business and mission practices in nonprofits and within the sector; andResponding to trends – Creating and implementing educational services and technical assistance programs that meet the needs of donors, nonprofits, and the community based on local and national trends gleaned from the data.